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Security leaders help squash SOPA, PIPA pirating laws

The White House, in mid-January, put the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) in their rightful place, and by rightful I mean right in the circular file. A response penned by three top administration officials to a grassroots Internet petition opposing the proposed bills explained that the Obama administration would not support either of the pirating laws. Instead it called for a coordinated do-over to protect content creators from piracy from foreign websites. Cybersecurity coordinator Howard Schmidt, OMB Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel, and White House CTO Aneesh Chopra were gracious in their post to the White House’s We the People page and urged for the continuance of an open and democratic Internet. In declaring the administration’s opposition to the controversial SOPA and PIPA pirating laws, Schmidt et al called for a serious legislative response, especially one that doesn’t increase opportunities for hackers to further and easily exploit already vulnerable websites. New ...